A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 15 eBook

In the latitude of 29 deg. 30’, longitude 41
deg. 30’, the wind slackened and veered more
to the S.E. We now began to see some of that sea-plant,
which is commonly called gulph-weed, from a supposition
that it comes from the Gulph of Florida. Indeed,
for aught I know to the contrary, it may be a fact;
but it seems not necessary, as it is certainly a plant
which vegetates at sea. We continued to see it,
but always in small pieces, till we reached the latitude
36 deg., longitude 39 deg. W., beyond which situation
no more appeared.

On the 5th of July, in the latitude of 22 deg. 31’
30” N., longitude 40 deg. 29’ W., the
wind veered to the east, and blew very faint:
The next day it was calm; the two following days we
had variable light airs and calms by turns; and, at
length, on the 9th, having fixed at S.S.W., it increased
to a fresh gale, with which we steered first N.E. and
then E.N.E., with a view of making some of the Azores,
or Western Isles. On the 11th, in the latitude
of 36 deg. 45’ N., longitude 36 deg. 45’
W., we saw a sail which was steering to the west;
and the next day we saw three more.

SECTION XI.

Arrival of the Ship at the Island of Fayal, a Description
of the Place, and the Return of the Resolution to
England.

At five o’clock in the evening of the 13th,
we made the island of Fayal, one of the Azores, and
soon after that of Pico, under which we spent the
night in making short boards. At day-break the
next morning, we bore away for the bay of Fayal, or
De Horta, where at eight o’clock, we anchored
in twenty fathoms water, a clear sandy bottom, and
something more than half a mile from the shore.
Here we moored N.E. and S.W., being directed so to
do by the master of the port, who came on board before
we dropped anchor. When moored, the S.W. point
of the bay bore S. 16 deg. W., and the N.E. point
N. 33 deg. E.; the church at the N.E. end of the
town N. 38 deg. W., the west point of St George’s
Island N. 42 deg. E., distant eight leagues;
and the isle of Pico, extending from N. 74 deg.
E. to S. 46 deg. E., distant four or five miles.

We found in the bay the Pourvoyeur, a large French
frigate, an American sloop, and a brig belonging to
the place. She had come last from the river Amazon,
where she took in a cargo of provision from the Cape
Verd Islands; but, not being able to find them, she
steered for this place, where she anchored about half
an hour before us.

As my sole design in stopping here was to give Mr
Wales an opportunity to find the rate of the watch,
the better to enable us to fix with some degree of
certainty the longitude of these islands, the moment
we anchored, I sent an officer to wait on the English
consul, and to notify our arrival to the governor,
requesting his permission for Mr Wales to make observations
on shore, for the purpose above mentioned. Mr
Dent, who acted as consul in the absence of Mr Gathorne,
not only procured this permission, but accommodated
Mr Wales with a convenient place in his garden to
set up his instruments; so that he was enabled to observe
equal altitudes the same day.